My Forever Friend
by Captivated Heart
Summary: Small Oneshot of Eric and Ariel spending some time together at a ball they host.


This is based off of the song, _My Forever Friend_, by James Shepard. He owns the song and Disney owns all things _The Little Mermaid_. I would also like to point out Eric's kingdom is in Denmark and people there would most likely speak Danish rather than English.

My Forever Friend

Soft strains of a singer I couldn't quite pinpoint in the rather large orchestra filled the spacious ballroom. Some words struck familiarity in the foreign tongue but others remained like velvet I couldn't quite touch. Eric had told me English was a difficult language to understand and my chance meetings with other lesser nobles from surrounding waters back in Atlantica hadn't taught me enough of the language to know much of what was being said.

The words I didn't grasp floated through my head, staying as if to leisurely tease me in that velvet voice. So few of the past songs had an accompanying singer and though it may not be the place for it, I want so badly to ask Eric of its meaning. Still, I was hesitant to disrupt the skillful gliding my husband led me in around the marbled floor to ask an overall meaningless question. But holding my tongue when curiosity got the better of me never seemed to go swimmingly.

"Eric?"

He caught my eyes and, not for the first time this evening, smiled dashingly. "Yes, Ariel?"

The way he said my name was so regal, so unlike him. Yet I, of all people, knew the distance he normally put between himself and a formal ball with royal duties. I also knew all the crowned heads of neighboring countries had been invited for his coronation. It was a wonder he had been allowed to work it into a far less formal affair than it should have been. Somewhere in the back of my mind, it registered that his request had mostly been on my behalf. He knew how much more I preferred moving around and exploring to sitting for hours on end. And while the monarchs had agreed to a ball for a coronation, Eric still saw it fitting to entertain their expectations of a soon-to-be-crowned king. So while I knew he'd rather be his carefree self, twirling me this way and that across the floor as he was known to do, he was obediently playing prince. Thus I, too, would entertain the change in attitude.

I smiled ruefully, still sorry for interrupting the dance he was so focused on, and then asked, "What does this song mean, exactly?"

A sparkle appeared in his eyes; the same sparkle he acquired every time I asked him a question to temporarily sate my abounding curiosity.

Eric dipped his forehead to mine for a moment with a conspiratorial smile. "It's a song of eternal love. How a girl came into his life just in time to capture his heart, give him butterflies, and become his _forever friend_."

His words, romantic as they were, suddenly didn't make sense and before I could ask him what a 'forever friend' was, I caught a knowing look spread over his handsome features.

The hand on the small of my back pulled me closer until I could wrap an entire forearm across the back of his shoulders. Then he spoke into my ear in mere wisps of words, "You're my forever friend."

He offered no explanation, only a shiver down my spine I'm sure he felt as he pulled me that much closer.

"And you're mine?" I smiled to try and cover some of the question in the tone.

Eric nodded proudly and then gained back the slight distance required for this dance before leading me to follow the crowd around the floor.

I matched his movements, the dance coming naturally with each step as the soft music rang through my head once more. How mysterious it was. The music down in Atlantica was always so upbeat and lively I couldn't help but sing along and swim circles around Flounder, holding his fins to make sure he kept up. The music here, no matter if I knew what the meaning was or not, arose something else in me. I didn't want to sing, I didn't want to twirl until I hit the floor giggling, but I did want to hold Eric closer again.

Instead, I ask of him, "So you only get one forever friend?"

Eric shrugged nebulously, then added, "That's usually how it goes."

That didn't seem right. What about the people Eric had known longer than me? Grim, his father-figure? Carlotta, his fussing step-in mother? Or what about Max, his most trusted friend? It was easy to see how no one but Eric could be considered my forever friend; I had practically given up all my friends in the sea to stay with him. I've barely seen Flounder since the wedding, and sure, my sisters and Father come to visit every now and then, but somehow I don't think family is the same as a forever friend. So what was so special about the title?

For a second time, Eric hid a laugh and smiled with insight. He always said he could read my face like an open book.

Then my confusion and curiosity was entertaining to him?

"I'll give you a hint." His grin was all too obvious and my less-than-amused look said as much. "A forever friend is better known as a soul mate."

A soul mate. I repeated the seemingly new words over in my head, mulling over the sounds. Then the hazy familiarity cleared as I recalled where I'd heard it before. Daddy.

Eric allowed his hand to drop from my back to his side for the first time since starting this dance and then brought my hand to his lips as he'd done so many times before. Such a gentleman my husband is. Husband… and soul mate?

"Eric," I said as he led me to the side of the dance floor, my hand still in his, "I thought only true humans could have a soul mate."

"True humans?" he laughed. It wasn't the sound of mocking and I found I liked the sound of it. Carefree yet different than his laugh when it's just the two of us.

"Well, yes. Daddy told us in his stories that Great Uncle Zeus only split humans in half to search the world over for their other half; their soul mate. Wouldn't that mean…"

I cut off as his grip tightens on my hand and his features freeze for a moment. "Great… Uncle Zeus?"

"You know of him?" The grin that comes naturally to my face infects his as he gives a small, almost forced chuckle.

"You could say that."

I watch his eyes for a moment in excitement but then settle down and notice his eyes regain their warmth. "Then you probably know my cousin, Hercules, too."

Eric chuckles again, this time heartily. "I've heard of the guy. Remind me to show you a movie later by some American named Walt Disney. It's great and-" he coughed to clear the excitement out of his voice as the Dutch and Duchess of Glowerhaven walked past, "I think you'll find it to your liking."

"It would be my pleasure," I reply, picking up on the formality again as well. The secretive grin of relief he cracks after they walk past made it worth it, like the two of us are united against everyone else in the room. And we are. That's what marriage is it seems. We are united, just like the two halves of souls are mated to create one inseparable force. "So we are soul mates."

He took my hand again and gave it another brush against his lips. "So we are."


End file.
